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NEW HANOVER UPDATES: Part of Sutton Plant coal ash landfill collapses

Star-News (Wilmington, NC)

Sept. 16--Heavy rains cause hill of coal ash to collapse at Sutton

WILMINGTON -- Duke Energy announced late Saturday rainwater from Hurricane Florence may have come into contact with coal ash at the Sutton Power Plant site in Wilmington before running off into nearby Sutton Lake.

In a release, Duke said company officials conducting an inspection Saturday discovered a slope had collapsed at one of four lined landfill cells being constructed to store coal ash removed from on-site basins. It was not immediately clear how much water may have run into Sutton Lake after coming into contact with the coal ash.

About 2,000 cubic yards of coal ash were displaced in the collapse, Duke said, or enough to fill about two-thirds of an Olympic-size swimming pool.

As the stormwater flowed, said Megan Henderson, a Duke spokeswoman, the ash "naturally collected" in a perimeter ditch and on a haul road surrounding the landfill.

Henderson said the company does not believe the incident poses a threat to the environment, but is conducting environmental sampling. Duke informed N.C. Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) officials of the release shortly after it was discovered.

Megan Thorpe, a DEQ spokeswoman, said DEQ has been monitoring all coal ash impoundments that could be vulnerable to flooding from Florence.

"Once the damage is assessed, DEQ will determine the best path forward and hold the utility accountable for implementing the solution that ensures the protection of public health and the environment," Thorpe said in an emailed statement, referring to the incident as a stormwater discharge.

Duke employees are managing the situation, Henderson said, and will repair the landfill when conditions improve.

-- Adam Wagner

>>READ MORE: Click here for complete coverage of Hurricane Florence.

Charges filed against Dollar General looters

WILMINGTON -- Police are charging five looters for breaking into a Dollar General Saturday and seekingthe identities of looters in another break-in.

Late Saturday, Wilmington Police arrested five people who broke in and looted the Dollar General at Fifth Avenue and Dawson Street. Charges for all five individuals are pending.

This follows an incident Saturday afternoon when dozens of people stormed the Family Dollar at 1318 Greenfield St. and stole items from the closed store. Initially, Family Dollar management told WPD it did not want to file charges. At the time, WPD spokeswoman Linda Thompson said not filing charges could encourage further crimes.

"They are basically promoting that kind of behavior," she said.

Since then, WPD, District Attorney Ben David and Family Dollar have consulted and charges will be pursued against looters identified as being involved.

Following the Family Dollar looting, an extended curfew was issued for a one-block radius surrounding the store.

-- Hunter Ingram

Landfill to open Sunday, will accept storm debris

NEW HANOVER COUNTY -- The county landfill will open Sunday to accept the first wave of Florence debris from residents.

The landfill will be open 8 am. to 5 p.m. Sunday before returning to normal operating hours on Monday.

The county still hasn't made an decision as to how it will pick up debris collected by residents. Once officials complete an assessment of the damage, there will be specific guidance for residents about debris pickup. Information about those pickups will be included on the EmergencyNHC.com website and on the county's social media.

Additionally, the county has implemented a ban on open burning in the unincorporated areas of New Hanover County until further notice. The ban is in place due to the large amount of storm debris from Hurricane Florence, which increases the chance of injury or property damage.

--Staff reports

Lara Trump to join president's visit to Florence-affected region

WILMINGTON -- President Donald Trump could visit some of the places hardest hit by Florence as early as this coming week.

"The president is expected to travel to areas affected by the storm early to middle of next week, once it is determined his travel will not disrupt any rescue or recovery efforts," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

Lara Trump, daughter-in-law of the president, is from Wilmington and her parents still live in Wrightsville Beach. She said she plans to make the trip home when emergency officials give the go ahead.

"As soon as they say it's safe to come down, I hope to make the trip home to help my parents (with) the clean up," she told the StarNews.

She also confirmed President Trump is interested in making a visit to the affected areas in Florence's path.

-- Hunter Ingram

Family Dollar looted

Wilmington Police said they were asked by management of a Family Dollar store at 13th and Dawson streets to ignore people looting the store Saturday afternoon.

"Officers showed up and the Family Dollar folks asked us not do anything because it was too far gone," police spokeswoman Linda Thompson said. "We're very frustrated because we don't want that kind of behavior."

She said police could not make arrests after the store's management declined to pursue charges.

"If the store owners don't want to do anything, there's not much we can do about it," she said. "If you don't have a victim, you don't have a crime. That's kind of where we are."

Thompson said police believe the store is setting a bad precedent as Tropical Storm Florence continues bringing rains and flooding to the region.

"It's ridiculous," she said. "They are basically promoting that kind of behavior."

-- Tim Buckland

5 million gallons of wastewater spill at CFPUA plant

About 5 million gallons of partially treated wastewater spilled into the Cape Fear River on Friday when a generator failed at the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority treatment plant on River Road, CFPUA Executive Director Jim Flechtner said.

"We lost commercial power, then our generator failed to start," Flechtner said Saturday.

Flechtner said CFPUA crews tested the generator, running it for hours before the storm's arrival.

"It worked perfectly," he said.

Flechtner said some of the wastewater had been treated at the plant before the spill into the Cape Fear River, but officials do not know exactly how much of the spill contained treated or untreated water.

Flechtner said the failure was identified as a voltage regulator and that crews have repaired it. The plant, along with CFPUA's other wastewater plant and two water treatment plant, were operating Saturday on generators.

Local chefs and restaurant owners are donating their culinary skills Saturday to help feed Wilmington first responders, volunteers and Hurricane Florence victims.

Chef Keith Rhodes of Catch, Christi Ferretti of Pine Valley Market, Michelle Rock of T'Geaux Boys and Mama Rocks Food Truck and other local chefs made an appearance at the New Hanover County Government Center.

The chefs and cooks are working with chef Jose Andres' non-profit World Central Kitchen.

New Hanover County Schools will be closed for students from Monday, Sept. 17 to Friday, Sept. 21. The district is also closed for most staff Monday and Tuesday.

After Hurricane Florence damage assessment is done, the system will announce whether it's safe for staff to return later in the week.

China Wok open

Marcus McMillen heard a rumor and made a choice. Sitting at home with his family off Gordon Road, McMillen decided to venture out into the storm on Saturday and see if the story was true.

He'd been told that the China Wok next to Food Lion at the intersection of Dawson and Oleander was open and serving food. Armed with a list of requests, McMillen put in about 10 orders and didn't seem to mind the two-hour wait in the hot restaurant with nearly a dozen other patrons.

A few more businesses opened Saturday. One of those is the BP station on College Road and University Landing.

-- Alex Riley

County plans to distribute food, water for 60,000

NEW HANOVER COUNTY -- State and county officials hope to open food and water distribution centers Monday for New Hanover County residents who remain in the area.

New Hanover County Manager Chris Coudriet said during a news conference Saturday that locations for the distribution centers will be announced Sunday. Each of the centers will have resources to provide food and water for up to 60,000 people a day for four days. Two hundred people from outside support agencies will staff the centers.

"There will be three distibution centers," Coudriet said. "At this point, we are expecting to open those facilities on Monday morning ... after the curfew ends (at 6 a.m.)."

Within 24 to 48 hours, the county also plans to activate its urban search and rescue team, which will use the former Sears site at Wilmington'sIndependence Mall as its base camp.

Some of the county's shelters will be consolidated and relocated with 36 hours. Coudriet said the county is working with New Hanover County Schools to identify larger locations that can hold more people, but in fewer locations.

He noted that the five schools currently operating as shelters were chosen because they had the best potential to withstand early hurricane conditions, including high winds and storm surge. Now that the storm has largely passed, the county is able to use buildings with higher walls (which can be vulnerable to winds) and those in different locations.

As of Saturday afternoon, 600 people were staying in county shelters, and one, Trask Middle School, had seen people relocated as roof and door leaks compromised parts of the building. The county will provide transportation to anyone currently sheltering who wants to stay in the consolidated shelters.

Sunday at 8 a.m., the New Hanover County landfill will open with a limited capacity, and is expected to have a normal schedule Monday. The county is working to identify drop sites beyond the landfill for storm debris.

As of Saturday, 112,000 out of 127,000 New Hanover County homes -- 88 percent -- were without power. Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo said during the news conference that 1,000 Duke Energy trucks are prepared to assist Southeastern North Carolina as the winds die down and roads clear.

"Nonetheless, we are expecting extensive power outages for quite some time because of the amount of trees that are down around the city," Saffo said.

He added that traffic signals are out at all of the city's major intersections, and crews cannot begin repairing them until wind gusts fall below 35 mph.

During a news conference at the New Hanover County Emergency Operations Center, Blair said the town was "pretty fortunate" that flooding from Banks Channel did not severely damage buildings. He said the island had small trees down and minor damage to several buildings, but was less impacted than predicted.

The biggest impact, Blair said, was the loss of almost all of the 750,000 cubic yards of sand placed on Wrightsville Beach this winter during a federal beach nourishment project.

"From our assessment, it looks like we've lost most of that," he said. "The good news in that is we did not have an ocean breach."

-- Cammie Bellamy

Downtown residents begin cleanup despite widespread blackouts

WILMINGTON -- Bob Warren has lived in the historic Richard Price House on Fifth Avenue for 48 years and weathered several major hurricanes.

He lost a massive historic tree in his front yard during Bertha that blocked both sides of Fifth Avenue. When it cracked, cannonballs and bricks spilled out, hidden from at least a century before. Now Tropical Storm Florence claimed another one of his trees, a massive oak that splintered and snapped, again blocking portions of the road.

"This was such a beautiful live oak," he said. "It was so full and green. I think the weight of it just couldn't withstand it."

A random good Samaritan had already cut it to pieces.

Warren sat on his porch early Saturday with Mr. Cat, surveying the damage and watching the bands of rain cycle in and out. He never lost power during Fran or Bertha.

Florence broke that luck. Warren was one of the more than 100,000 people in New Hanover County without power.

"I'm just thankful it was milder than it was supposed to be," he said.

That was a popular sentiment among those milling about downtown Wilmington Saturday.

Joe Deliberto, owner of Cousins Italian Deli on Third Street, swept brush and debris out of the street and storm drains Saturday morning. He was still grappling with the damage he saw as he made his way downtown.

"My jaw hit the ground when I drove out of here this morning," he said. "It's devastating. I can't even imagine if a category 2 or 3 had hit this place. I planned on sticking it out through a category 3 or 4, but after seeing this, I won't ever be doing that."

An inch of water infiltrated his business because of clogged storm drains right outside his door. Around town, other residents tried to free the flow of other drains to avoid flooding.

"It was over a foot of brush just on the curb clogging them," Deliberto said. "As soon as I cleared them, it was like an avalanche."

UNCW will not open Monday, CFCC remains closed

WILMINGTON -- The University of North Carolina Wilmington has announced it will give students and staff at least 72 hours' notice before it reopens, meaning campus will remain closed Monday.

In a Facebook post Saturday, university officials wrote that it was still too early to predict when campus might open. How the closure will affect the academic calendar and December commencement has yet to be determined.

The university issued a mandatory evacuation for students this week ahead of Hurricane Florence's arrival and shuttered campus.

"Thank you for your patience. You are all on our minds," the post read.

Cape Fear Community College will also stay closed "until further notice," officials annouced Saturday. All campus events, including athletics and practices, have been canceled indefinitely.

"CFCC will continue to provide information and updates to local news media outlets, the College's social media accounts, cfcc.edu and via the CFCC Emergency Information hotline at 1-877-799-2322," officials wrote in a news release.

-- Cammie Bellamy

Interstate 40 "impassable," road clearing begins

NEW HANOVER COUNTY -- Officials are advising evacuees to hold off on returning to Wilmington, as Interstate 40 and dozens of county roads remain blocked.

The New Hanover County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) reported Saturday morning that I-40 is "impassable" around Wilmington. According to the N.C. Department of Transportation, the road is closed in both directions around Warsaw (exits 364 and 369) and is not expected to reopen until 8:30 a.m. Monday.

Fallen trees and power lines are also blocking dozens of roads within the county Saturday, leading officials to ask those that remain in the area to stay off the roads if at all possible. EOC officials noted that in past hurricanes, many deaths occured after the storm has passed.

Another 14.3 inches of rain are forecasted to fall over the next 24 hours, according to the EOC. And the Cape Fear River is expected to crest at record levels this weekend, increasing the potential for flooding across the area.

The county did start deploying road crews and damage assessment teams this morning, and work is starting to reopen some major roads.

Officials are also relocating 150 people from the county shelter at Trask Middle School to Eaton Elementary School Saturday. Roofs and doors started leaking in several spots at Trask Friday night, and officials say the relocation will make room for shelter residents who evacuated with their pets to move to drier parts of Trask. Trask is the only shelter of the county's five currently accepting pets.

According to the EOC, there is still room at shelters at Codington Elementary School and Noble Middle School Saturday. The generator at Noble failed overnight, but a crew was in route to the shelter Saturday morning to repair it.

A news conference with representatives from the county, city of Wilmington and Wrightsville Beach is scheduled for 11:45 a.m. Saturday.

Boil water in Carolina Beach, hospital phones down

NEW HANOVER COUNTY -- A boil water advisory has been issued for Carolina Beach as of late Friday night.

According to a news release from the town, power outages on Pleasure Island may cause periods of low water pressure and water outages, increasing the risk of bacteria in the system. Water customers are asked to vigorously boil for a minute or two all water for human consumption -- including drinking, cooking, brushing teeth, making ice and washing hands -- or use bottled water.

"We apologize for the inconvenience and we thank you for your patience during this emergency repair," the release states. "If you have any questions, please contact Town Hall at 910-458-2999."

Back on the mainland, New Hanover Regional Medical Center reports that the hospital is experiencing a phone outage, preventing inbound calls to its normal numbers.

NHRMC has activated a temporary phone line at 910-343-3187 for patients and family members of patients. Anyone experiencing a medical emergency should call 911.